The Ijtema is considered a demonstration of Muslim unity, solidarity, mutual love and respect and an opportunity to reiterate their commitment to Islamic values.

It culminates in the Akheri Munajat (concluding supplication or final prayer), in which millions of devotees raise their hands and pray to Allah for world peace.

Despite being larger than Hajj, the obligatory Muslim pilgrimage, the voluntary Bishwa Ijtema remains largely unknown and underreported in the West.

The event is organized generally in January, occasionally in February,[10] by the Bangladeshi branch of the Tablighi Jamaat, a Deobandi movement.

The congregation takes place in an area which spans over five square kilometers in Tongi, an outer suburb north of Dhaka.

Law enforcement agencies such as Bangladesh Police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) are responsible for ensuring the safety and security at the Ijtema ground and the surrounding vicinity.

[10] Despite the large number of devotees living within a confined space, generally there are very few problems of sanitation, cooking, and internal movements.

During the Final Prayer, huge crowds stretch from the Ijtema ground in Tongi into the Dhaka metropolitan area.

[12] In 1946, the first annual conference of Tablighi Jamaat or Ijtema in the region what today called Bangladesh was held at Kakrail Mosque near Ramna Park in Dhaka.

[1] In 1967, Due to the increasing numbers of participants, the government of East Pakistan allowed organizers to schedule the event annually in the current venue at Pagar village field in Tongi by the River Turag.

From 1972 onwards, the Bishwa Ijtema is being held in the large open field of 160 acre, along the north-eastern bank of the River Turag (Qahar Darya), allotted by the Government of Bangladesh.

[13] Since 2012, due to the accommodation demands, the Tablighi Jamaat authorities has bifurcated the Ijtema into two phases in order to better manage the growing number of participants.

The second phase of the Bishwa Ijtema saw hundreds of thousands of Muslims from home and abroad, including attendees from around 56 countries, gathering for Jummah prayers along the banks of the Turag River in Tongi, Gazipur.

In 2008, the event had to be cut short to only one day due to rain and cold weather which left three attendees dead.